Nelly Korda is set to begin her defense of the Olympic women's golf title on Wednesday, despite recent struggles potentially overshadowing her stellar season. As the top-ranked player in the world, she arrives at Le Golf National aiming to reverse a recent slump in form, following a remarkable start to the year that saw her claim six victories in seven events. Korda's achievements include becoming the first LPGA Tour player since 2016 Olympic champion Park In-bee in 2013 to win six times in a single season, a feat she accomplished with her victory at the Americas Open in May. Prior to this, she had secured five consecutive titles, including her second major win at the Chevron Championship. However, a challenging performance at the US Open, highlighted by a score of 10 on a par-three hole, marked the beginning of a series of missed cuts, culminating in a tied-26th finish at the Evian Championship in July.
Reflecting on the unpredictable nature of golf, Korda commented, "Sometimes you feel on top of the world and in a matter of a couple seconds, you just feel like you're on the bottom of the sea." She emphasized the importance of appreciating good golf while acknowledging the inevitable ups and downs. Korda's Olympic gold medal in Tokyo was secured by a narrow margin over Japan's Mone Inami and Lydia Ko, making her and her sister Jessica the second generation of their family to compete in the Olympics, following their mother, former Czech tennis player Regina Rajchrtova. Their father, the 1998 Australian Open tennis champion Petr Korda, did not participate in the Olympics, nor did their tennis-playing brother Sebastian, who chose to focus on his career, recently reaching a career-high ranking of world number 18.
Korda will be paired with South Korean star Ko Jin-young and Chinese world number five Yin Ruoning for the first two rounds. Notably, New Zealander Lydia Ko holds the distinction of being the only golfer with multiple individual Olympic medals, having won silver in Rio and bronze in Tokyo. This season, she has demonstrated her prowess by securing her 20th LPGA Tour title in January. Ko expressed her pride in holding the most medals in golf, both for men and women, and hopes to add another in Paris, stating, "If I can leave Paris with another medal, that will be very special to me because you just never know what's going to happen in the future."
